Nasty, Brutish and Short

I had a good conversation with a few friends last week. We definitely don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but it's so good that we're still talking. Unfortunately while we're talking the human juggernaut is continuing on its path of destruction and is taking everything with it.

The conversation was all encompassing but partly focused on our differing views of the natural world.

For me, nature is perfect. When I refer to nature I mean ecosystems, the climate, the predator-prey relationship, the biosphere, the hydrological cycle. When you take the time to look at it from this macro, systemic level it works so wonderfully, all the parts in perfect balance; I sometimes wonder if humans are jealous that they could never create anything so perfect and that's why they ruin wonderful places.

But it's also perfect for me at the micro or individual level. For the past few days I've seen a female squirrel from my window eating the buds on a tree. She needs to survive for a few more weeks before the bounty of spring and summer. The tree suffers a little but really it just pushes the tree to grow taller, bud more and favours the high buds which she can't reach as easily. And I think about the story I once learned about a species of tree whose fruit must pass through the intestinal tract of a specific bat species for it to germinate. Imagine how many more of these intricate relationships we don't know about? And bluntly, my wonder doesn't require that I know everything.

My friends though were fixated on what they perceived as the dark side of nature. To them it's nasty, brutish and short. Nothing to be celebrated but to be avoided at all costs. I don't think that they view all of the natural world through this lens but it's prominent for them; I know that a rainforest would take their breath away for instance.

Still they had seen many examples of what they viewed as the mass suffering of the natural world. Polar bears too exhausted from swimming to kill their prey, killer whales hunting for sport and little else. These specific examples portrayed on television eclipsed any notion that nature was perfect and balanced and wonderful.

While I share their sadness and empathy with these creatures, I'm not ready to condemn a proven system based on a few specific examples. And even if I did condemn nature for its occasional misery, doing so would be ridiculous. Humans are part of nature. This is our one and only home. We are not separate from these realities. We either obey natural laws or we go extinct. And currently we are getting busy going extinct. Unfortunately we're taking every other being with us.

What does viewing nature as nasty, brutish and short, in the words of Thomas Hobbes, mean for our relationships with other beings and ecosystems? Does it mean that we must do everything to live apart from this terrible life, to insulate human civilization from the natural world? Does it mean that we can do what we please and damn the consequences? Does it mean we can treat animals and other beings as our slaves? If we know deep down that we belong back where we were formed and nurtured, do we hate ourselves?

Yet it's an illusion to imagine that human civilization is somehow better than nature, which I feel my friends did. The civilized world is much more violent and destructive than nature both at an individual level and certainly at a systemic level.

At the micro level, think of a mine and the pollution of waterways and the destruction of the local ecosystem. Think of a dam and the end of salmon runs that have lasted for thousands of years. Think of mousetraps and broken necks. Think of building expressways through forests. Think of birdsong outside your window that disappears with each passing year and new subdivision and skyscraper.

Then take it to the macro level and the damage of civilization. Think of billions of tons of carbon dioxide that should never have been entering the atmosphere and the warming of the planet. Think of billions of poor, brown people whose only crime was being born into what could only be called slavery. Think of continents of plastic that will never decay unless the earth provides a solution. Think of giant war machines and pillars of smoke. Think of rising cancer rates and obesity and mood disorders.

I accept that some beings suffer in the natural world. But on balance, civilization is guilty of far worse crimes. Without civilized humans, nature would have lasted forever. Forever. Until the sun burned its last atom and every being saw nothing but light, felt nothing but burning heat. And then we were all gone, together. Like we always were.